Greek Civil War

The Greek Civil War (30 March 1946-16 October 1949) was fought between the US and British-backed Greek government and the Yugoslavian and Albanian-backed Democratic Army of Greece in the early years of the Cold War. The civil war had begun brewing during World War II; the communist ELAS and liberal EDES national resistance movements engaged in skirmishes starting in the autumn of 1943, and fighting continued until the United Kingdom brokered a peace between the anti-Nazi movements in the spring of 1944. However, the Dekemvriana clashes of December 1944-January 1945 between the British Army/EDES fighters and communist EDES fighters in Athens led to the right-wing takeover of Greece, with former Axis Powers collaborators remaining in the government and leftists being massacred in the "White Terror". In 1946, with the support of the Eastern Bloc, former ELAS fighters convened in their hideouts and formed the Democratic Army of Greece (DSE), which rose in rebellion against the right-wing government. From 1946 to 1948, the communists made good progress, but the split between Titoism and Stalinism, increased American aid to the Greek government (as a part of the Marshall Plan), and the inability of the DSE to recruit more fighters led to the Greek army gaining the upper hand. The government won the civil war in 1949, and a vehemently anti-communist regime would maintain power for decades, polarizing Greek politics and leading to the rise of the 1967-1974 military junta. A total of 158,000 people were killed during the war, while 1,000,000 Greek refugees were created.